20VC: Why People Should Never Be Surprised If Fired, Subscription E-Commerce Is Hot & People Never Give True and Direct Feedback with Amir Elaguizy, Co-Founder @ Cratejoy

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The Twenty Minute VC

Finance, Venturecapital, Tech News, News, Siliconvalley, Technology, Investing, Startups, Business

4.4 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2016

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Amir Elaguizy is the Founder & CEO @ YC backed, Cratejoy, the website builder and backend for subscription e-commerce stores. Cratejoy have funding from the likes of General Catalyst, Andreesen Horowitz, Y Combinator and Charles River Ventures With regards to Amir, he previously founded Market Zero, a poker software company which was acquired by Zynga, where he then spent time as a game CTO.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Amir came to be an entrepreneur, got acquired by Zynga and then started Cratejoy?

2.) With the recent acquisition of Dollar Shave Club, the subscription e-commerce business is hot, why does Amir think most people misunderstand the space?

3.) Amir previously said, ‘owning recruiting is the single most important thing you can do’, why does he believe this? Does Amir believe that the early team might not necessarily be the team to evolve from a $1m business to a $20m business?

4.) What is the difference between foundational team members and mercenary team members? What are the signs an individual is worth spending time to grow with?

5.) Amir previously said, 'most people have never received true direct feedback on performance’, how does Amir look to differentiate himself? Is it suitable for the leadership to be the bad guy?

6.) How can the firing process be approached with respect and dignity? Should it ever be a surprise? If it is a surprise what does that suggest about your leadership previously?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Amir’s Fave Book: Hard Thing About Hard Things

Amir’s Fave Podcasts: The Twenty Minute VC, SaaStr

As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Amir on Twitter here!

If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Snapchat here!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the 20 minute VC with your host, Terry Stebbings, and as you know, every Friday, we bring you an interview with an incredible founder who's raised and been through the venture experience.
0:09.3	And joining us today, I'm delighted to welcome, and I'm going to get this wrong, so I'm sorry, Amir.
0:13.5	Amir Ella Guizzi, founder and CEO at YC-backed Cratejoy, the website builder and backend for subscription e-commerce stores, and they have
0:21.9	funding from the likes of General Catalyst, Andresen, Y, C, and Charles River Ventures. And on that note,
0:27.8	we have to say a huge thank you to Annie Cadavi for the intro to Amir. And as for Amir, he previously
0:33.0	founded Market Zero, a poker software company, which was acquired by Zinger, where he then spent
0:38.1	time as game CTO. I also have to say, Amir is one of the deepest thinkers I think I've
0:43.1	ever come across on team dynamics and managing employee expectations, a truly fantastic CEO,
0:49.4	and many great nuggets from this episode. But before we meet Amir, Steve Bulmer once said,
0:54.4	accessible design is good design, and that's what I love about design crowd. Whether you're a
0:58.7	startup one-man company or a global bank like Deloitte, design crowd can help you with its online
1:03.8	marketplace for custom graphic, logo and web design that will allow you to outsource your design
1:09.2	project to over 500,000 registered designers.
1:12.6	And what makes it so accessible?
1:14.6	For me, it's the ease, and it's a simple three-step process.
1:17.6	One, launch your project with your requirements.
1:20.6	Two, sit back and watch as the designs come pouring in, following which you select which ones you prefer the most.
1:25.6	And then finally, you have selected your favourites, and the winning designers will then send you the designs ones you prefer the most, and then finally, you have selected your
1:27.7	favourites, and the winning designers will then send you the designs that you have chosen.
1:31.8	Job done, and all in just three days.
1:34.1	So check them out at designcrowd.com forward slash VC, and enter the promo code VC100 for an incredible
1:40.4	$100 off.
	...

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